Our strategists stay across the month's most pivotal algorithm adjustments so you don’t have to. The following is a brief overview of changes to the global SEO landscape in July
Country Code Domains and Local Search Rankings: Gary Illyes from Google has confirmed that country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), such as .kr, generally perform better in local search results. This is because Google favours content that is relevant to users' locations.
Although ccTLDs provide a slight ranking advantage over generic top-level domains (gTLDs), the language of the content matching the user's query has an even greater impact on search rankings. Illyes also pointed out that ccTLDs can inspire more user trust as they are seen as more relevant to the user’s country.
Enhancing Product Rich Results: In a recent SEO Office Hours podcast, Google’s John Mueller shared four key factors for improving product rich results:
- Ensure your pages are indexed
- Use valid structured data
- Make sure Google deems your content valuable
- Submit a product feed to the Merchant Center
Following these steps helps your pages qualify for visually rich product listings. However, high-quality content remains essential for achieving these enhanced results.
Takeaways: For better search performance when entering a new market, use a ccTLD like .co.nz or .au, which offer more advantages compared to .com/au or .nz. Also, ensure that all products have schema markup, that your pages are indexable, and that the content is high quality to improve visibility in rich results.